Ellison Cooper

Author of Caged

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Great Nat Geo article on Looting Maya artifacts

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Excavation of the Los Arboles structure at Xultún uncovered numerous painted sculptures. This is a great article on the National Geographic Daily News: Losing Maya Heritage to Looters. One of the issues near and dear to my heart is cultural heritage. The theft of Maya antiquities is a massive problem in Central America and Mexico […]

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Maya woman called to Bar in Belize!

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This is so exciting! This is how lasting change in the status of indigenous communities happens so YAY for Monica Coc Magnusson! “Monica Coc Magnusson, the sister of noted Maya rights activist Christina Coc, made legal history today as the first member of the indigenous Maya community of Belize to be called to the Belize […]

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The Danger of a Single Story

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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is absolutely one of my favorite writers out there right now and her TED talk on the dangers of telling a single story is incredibly moving and important. I spend a decent amount of time thinking about writing, how to write well, why to write, etc. This talk has probably had more […]

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That Belongs in a Museum…oh wait, no it doesn’t

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This is a Katsinam — a sacred mask of the Hopi people. The Hopi believe that these are living beings, sacred spirits embodied. Over the years, “artifacts” like these have been stolen from indigenous peoples around the world and then sold to collectors and even museums. I’m an archaeologist, I get it. These are amazing,beautiful, […]

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Thinking about Belize

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As I am working on my (almost finished) novel, I’ve been thinking a lot about Belize these days. The book takes place all across Central America and Mexico, but it is really the deep jungle that I hated/loved/miss/hope to never go back to. Especially my time at the Programme For Belize where I learned many […]

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Happy B’ak’tun 13!

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Happy 13.0.0.0.0 4 Ajaw 3 K’ank’in! We’ve got a clean slate to create the new world however we would like – lets make it full of peace and joy. Rather than making fun of those who thought this was the end of days, I will just recommend a fantastic book on the incredibly nuanced and […]

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